| Author |
Message |
    
Toecutter
| | Posted on Friday, August 20, 2010 - 07:03 pm: | 
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Up until a few days ago, my '09 XB12Ss started seemingly almost immediately when you press the starter button, it might have cranked over two times max before starting. However, just a couple of days ago it started to take longer to start. For instance it now turns over five or six times before firing. Other than that it runs fine, but the suddenness of the change has me a little concerned.
I have 9,600 miles on the bike, so I am due for a plug change very soon, and I am hoping that changing the plugs will solve the issue. Also, I have the battery plugged into a battery minder just about every night, and I think that the battery is still strong.
Has anyone else in here had a similar occurrence? Did new plugs fix it? |
Toecutter
| | Posted on Monday, August 23, 2010 - 08:36 pm: |
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Well, I found the problem... Bad gas! I bought gas from a station that I don't normally use last week Tuesday, and that is when my problem started. However after several tanks of fuel were run through it over this past weekend, on my run on The Great River Road, the problem went away.
I won't be buying gas at that station again. BTW, that station is the BP on 91st and Silver Spring in Milwaukee. |
Dave
| | Posted on Tuesday, August 24, 2010 - 07:24 am: |
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Good follow-up
DAve |
Luv2spd
| | Posted on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 - 07:04 pm: |
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I try to use Shell V-Power as much as I can, the bike feels better when I use that fuel. Plus they say the Nitrogen in the fuel cleans your engine, I'm not sure if that's true or bs. |
Toecutter
| | Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 06:52 pm: |
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Another symptom of the bad tank of gas that I had was every once in a while while cruising at about 60mph, with the throttle at a constant, the engine would bog a bit, and then come back up to power. This happened 3 or 4 times before I used up all of the bad fuel, and once with the first new tank. By the second fresh tank of fuel the problem was completely gone. I suspect that it was a little water in the gas.
With regard to brands of fuel, I have always looked at gasoline as a commodity, and have never believed that one company's additive package is hugely better than another's, so I will use BP, Mobil, Shell, Marathon, or whatever. I don't use Citgo, but that has nothing to do with the quality of their gas. I have used with confidence just about any name brand fuel, and it seems that the bike doesn't care who's additive package is in it. The only difference I have found is that my fuel economy suffers when using a 10% ethanol blend regardless of brand.
However, maybe some brands have better control over their franchises than others with regards to the condition of their equipment and the quality of the product being delivered. It's something to ponder, but really the bottom line is I have no idea what conditions precipitated my getting a bad tank of fuel, and it could happen again someday, but I will continue to attempt to limit my bikes exposure to bad gas by never purchasing a second tank from any station where I have gotten bad fuel in the past. I suspect that over my lifetime, my list of blacklisted gas stations will be very short, as overall the quality of gasoline in this country is very good.
(Message edited by Toecutter on August 26, 2010) |
Froggy
| | Posted on Thursday, August 26, 2010 - 08:40 pm: |
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The gas is probably fine till it arrives at the gas station. The underground tanks may be susceptible to taking in water, perhaps the pumps have other contaminates, and other things can go wrong to get you sub-par gasoline.
My dad owns a gas station and car repair shop, after really heavy rains we get more work related to the fuel system as the gas station down the road tends to get water in the pumps during downpours. |
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'09 XB Taking More Cranks To Start Than Normal